Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium

National Aerospace Laboratory NLR

NLR-TP-2013-314

Benefits and Drawbacks of Using

Two-Phase Cooling
Technologies in Military platforms

J. van Es and H.J. van Gerner

Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium
National Aerospace Laboratory NLR

Anthony Fokkerweg 2
P.O. Box 90502
1006 BM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Telephone +31 (0)88 511 31 13
Fax +31 (0)88 511 32 10
Web site: http://www.nlr.nl
UNCLASSIFIED
Executive summary
Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Two-Phase Cooling
Technologies in Military platforms
Problem area
Increasing power densities in
platform electronic subsystems lead
to more common use of latent heat
as means of heat transportation to
make use of the large evaporation
heat per mass unit working fluid.
Description of work
In this article first an overview of
the state-of-the-art two-phase heat
transport systems is given. Then the
advantages and disadvantages of
two-phase heat transport systems
UNCLASSIFIED
Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium
National Aerospace Laboratory NLR
Report no.
NLR-TP-2013-314
Author(s)
J. van Es
H.J. van Gerner
Report classification
UNCLASSIFIED
Date
July 2013
Knowledge area(s)
Ruimtevaartinfrastructuur
Avionicasystemen
Lucht- en Ruimtevaart constructie-
en fabricagetechnologie
Descriptor(s)
Heat Pipes
Cooling Systems
are elucidated by recent examples in Flying Platforms
Space Platforms
space and aerospace projects.
Ships
Results and conclusions
Design guidelines are presented to
define the applicability of two-
phase technologies for land- air-
space- and marine-based systems.
The article concludes with
development needs for successful
introduction of two-phase
technologies in near future
platforms.
This report is based on an article published in the Electronics Cooling Magazine of March 2013.
UNCLASSIFIED
Applicability
The guidelines can be used by
system engineers to judge whether a
two-phase system is available.
Further a pre-selection can already
be made.
Although two-phase systems are
already used in many military
platforms, there are still
improvements needed to increase
the application range. To advance
UNCLASSIFIED
Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Two-Phase Cooling
Technologies in Military platforms
the introduction of 2-phase-MPL’s
in platforms and platform upgrades,
it is needed to reduce the pump
(electronics) mass and increase the
pump reliability.
Electronics Cooling Magazine
This report is based on an article
published in the Electronics
Cooling Magazine of March 2013.
Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium, National Aerospace Laboratory NLR
Anthony Fokkerweg 2, 1059 CM Amsterdam,
P.O. Box 90502, 1006 BM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Telephone +31 88 511 31 13, Fax +31 88 511 32 10, Web site: www.nlr.nl
 Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium
National Aerospace Laboratory NLR

NLR-TP-2013-314

Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Two-Phase

Cooling
Technologies in Military platforms

J. van Es and H.J. van Gerner

http://www.electronics-cooling.com/2013/03/benefits-and-drawbacks-of-using-two-phase-cooling-
technologies-in-military-platforms/.

This report is based on an article published in the Electronics Cooling Magazine of March 2013

The contents of this report may be cited on condition that full credit is given to NLR and the authors.

Customer National Aerospace Laboratory NLR

Contract number -----
Owner National Aerospace Laboratory NLR
Division NLR Aerospace Systems and Applications
Distribution Unlimited
Classification of title Unclassified
July 2013
Approved by:
Author Reviewer Managing department
J. van Es G. van Donk P. Dieleman

H.J. van Gerner

Date: Date: Date:

NLR-TP-2013-314

Contents

Heat Pipes 3

Thermosyphons 3

Vapor Chambers 5

Loop Heat Pipes (LHP) and Capillary Pumped Loops (CPL) 5

Two-Phase Mechanically Pumped Loop (2Φ-MPL) 6

Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHP) 7

Advantages and Drawbacks of Two-Phase Heat Transport Systems 7

Rough Two-Phase Design Guideline 8

Conclusions 8

References 8

2
 NLR-TP-2013-314

Featured
Heat Pipes

Thermosyphons

Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Two-Phase Cooling

Technologies in Military platforms
Johannes van Es, Henk Jan van Gerner, National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, Netherlands

HE NEX T GENERATION is to optimize the systems to enable pipe a capillary structure is imple-

T
military platforms will be them to fully exploit their existing ca- mented (axial grooves and/or a capillary
equipped with more and pabilities. One of the focal points will be wick) and therefore contains the liquid
more powerful sensors the reduction of the temperature drop in the pipe.
and avionics. The increas- between the dissipating electronics and On one end of the heat pipe dis-
ing power densities in the heat sink as illustrated in Figure 1. sipating electronics are attached. The
electronic subsystems demand more In this article, an overview of the dissipated heat evaporates the liquid,
cooling power while survivability re- different types of two-phase cooling and absorbs the heat. By the creation of
quirements limit the possibilities for systems is given, including the main ad- the additional vapor the vapor flows to
extending or adding cooling systems. vantages and drawbacks, and examples the other side of the heat pipe where it
This trend inevitably leads to thermal of their use. condenses and subsequently rejects the
challenges which need to be solved. heat. The liquid is pumped back by capil-
There are two main approaches for HEAT PIPES lary action closing the loop. Because the
solving these problems. The first aims The most well-known two-phase evaporation and condensation “occurs”
to increase the cooling capacity of the heat transport system is the heat pipe at the same temperature the tempera-
system. It is most practical for new plat- [2]. A heat pipe is a closed pipe filled ture drop over the pipe is only a few
forms. The second approach, more suit- with vapor and liquid of a dedicated degrees induced by the vapor pressure
able for upgrades of existing platforms, working fluid. On the walls of the heat drop over the pipe. Heat pipes are widely
used in terrestrial design (laptops,
CPU-cooling) and spacecraft thermal
design (heat pipe radiators). The main
Johannes van Es is senior R&D manager of the Thermal Control Group of drawback of heat pipes is their poor
the National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. He is responsible for new system and performance when used against gravity.
component developments in satellite and aircraft thermal management. His
activities range from S/C thermal system design, consultancy in special heat
pipe design and radar cooling, to new thermal component developments. He THERMOSYPHONS
was as project manager responsible for the Tracker Thermal Control System A special type of heat pipe is the
(TTCS) Development for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS02). He is also
point of contact for the Dutch National Space Roadmap “Thermal Management thermosyphon. A thermosyphon is a
and Cooling Systems” to coordinate Dutch developments in S/C thermal heat pipe which uses gravity to trans-
management and streamline with ESA developments. van Es has a MSc in port the liquid. The heat is therefore
physics engineering and and MSc in process engineering, both at Twente
University in the Netherlands. always collected and evaporated on
the bottom side and condensed at the
top side where the heat is removed by
Henk Jan van Gerner is a research engineer at the Thermal Control forced cooling or radiation. The liquid
Group of the NLR. He has extensive experience in the design and development
of advanced two-phase cooling systems for both terrestrial and space flows back to the bottom to close the
applications. His current work is focused on the development of lightweight loop. Thermosyphons are for example
vapour-compression cycles, numerical modeling of pumped two-phase
cooling systems, and systems with very accurate temperature control (0.001°C used in mountainous areas to keep
accuracy) at varying heat loads. van Gerner studied mechanical engineering roads or railways snow-free. The design
and obtained his Ph.D. in the Physics of Fluids group at Twente University in is straightforward and robust, however
the Netherlands.
even more dependent on orientation
than a normal heat pipe.

28 Electronics COOLING | March 2013

3
 NLR-TP-2013-314
FIGURE 1a: Typical electronics box with indicated thermal path from junc-
tion to ambient air.
Red: junction temperature, orange: case temperature, green: wedge-lock
temperature, light blue: coolant temperature after collecting the heat from
the electronics, dark blue: coolant temperature cold side, purple: environ-
ment temperature.
Remark: A wedge-lock is rugged fastener or card retainer used to clamp a
PCB within electronics box slot [1].
MORE THAN 300
TECHNICAL PAPERS COVERING:
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Conference Sponsors:
electronics-cooling.com | March 2013
FIGURE 1b: Typical temperature drop from junction to environment. The
lower line shows a system without two-phase technology implemented.
The upper line shows a system with two two-phase systems implemented
indicated with red line segments. A heat pipe system is integrated in the
electronics board between case and wedge-lock and a two-phase pumped
system is integrated to replace a liquid cooling system. This results in a
lower ∆T. A reduced temperature drop allows to reject/transfer the dissi-
pated heat at a higher temperature level to the environment. This can relax
the overall cooling system requirements.
HIGHLIGHTS
„
41 Technical sessions including:
s2 Interactive Presentation sessions
s1 Student Poster session
„
16 CEU-approved professional
development courses
„
Technology Corner Exhibits, featuring
over 70 industry-leading vendors
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4 Special Invited sessions
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Several evening receptions
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Many opportunities for networking
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Great location
4 Electronics COOLING 29
 NLR-TP-2013-314

Vapor Chambers

Loop Heat Pipes (LHP) and Capillary Pumped Loops (CPL)

FIGURE 2 (a) Heat pipe working principle (Source: Wikipedia), (b,c) typical cross sections of commercially available heat pipes.

VAPOR CHAMBERS
A less common type of heat pipe is the vapor chamber. In
fact it is a flat heat pipe with a very small length over diameter
ratio. Vapor chambers are used to increase heat transfer of
heat sinks, for example to enhance CPU- or power electronics
cooling. Vapor chambers are gravity dependent but flat ver-
THERMAL INTERFACE sions or types with the right wick design can be ruggedized
MATERIALS to withstand acceleration forces. This type of heat pipes are
mainly used as heat spreader but can also be used for accurate
HIGH PERFORMANCE & LOW COST OPTIONS (mK-level) temperature control.
FROM 1 to 17 Watt/M-K!
LOOP HEAT PIPES (LHP) AND CAPILLARY PUMPED LOOPS (CPL)
The Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) and Capillary Pumped Loop
(CPL) are more advanced types of heat pipes. These loops
separate, concentrate and optimize the capillary pumping
action in the evaporator section (See Figure 3).
LHP’s and CPL’s can therefore provide more pumping
Gap Filler Pads Thin Films Greases Putty Form-In-Place power and work to a certain extent (few meters) against grav-
Die-Cuts Extrusions Non-Silicone ity. Main difference between the LHP and CPL is that the
CPL has a separate temperature controlled reservoir which
can dictate the saturation temperature in the evaporator and
therefore set the payload temperature. In a LHP the reservoir
(or compensation chamber) and evaporator are combined, this
gives an advantage in starting up over the CPL as the wick of
the evaporator is wetted in all conditions. Drawback of the
LHP is the variation in payload temperature with payload
power. LHP’s are available over a large range of heat transport
capacities (10W to 1kW), and are used extensively in satellite
design and ground-based applications and also in specific
applications for fighter aircraft (F-16 and UAV’s).
For Technical Data, Samples, Engineering Support
Get Our Catalog,Visit Our Site www.fujipoly.com or Another drawback of LHP’s and CPL’s is the difficulty
Call 732.969.0100 to extend them to multi-evaporator systems. Extensive re-
search to multi-evaporator LHP’s has been performed [4]

30 Electronics COOLING | March 2013

5
 NLR-TP-2013-314

electronics-cooling.com | March 2013

Two-Phase Mechanically Pumped Loop (2Φ-MPL)

FIGURE 2.1: Thermosyphon principle (Courtesy:

Kiev Research and technology centre). FIGURE 2.2: Schematic of a vapour chamber (Courtesy: Thermacore).

which resulted in improved designs but it did not lead yet

to implementations.

TWO-PHASE MECHANICALLY PUMPED LOOP (2Φ-MPL)

Instead of capillary pumping forces also a mechani-
cal pump can be implemented in a two-phase loop. The
schematic is shown in Figure 4. Main components are an
THERMAL MANAGEMENT
accumulator, an evaporator and a condenser section, a heat BUYERS’ GUIDE APP
exchanger (optional) and of course a pump. The accumulator
is temperature- or pressure controlled and sets the evapora-
tion temperature. Although the pump adds complexity and
a lifetime issue this system has considerable advantages. Access information from
The system is very flexible, the heat sources and heat sink thermal management
can be located anywhere in the system and the heat load can companies on your
be transported over large distances. Furthermore, the tem- mobile device
perature of the heat sources can be accurately controlled.
Because of these advantages, a two-phase mechanically
pumped loop was selected as the only feasible concept for
the Tracker Thermal Control System (TTCS) of the AMS02
experiment [5], a development lead by NLR [6]. This system
was launched with the space shuttle (STS-134, May 2011) SEARCH “EC BUYERS’ GUIDE” IN
and subsequently mounted on the International Space THE APPLE APP STORE AND ANDROID MARKET
Station for a 15 year mission. The system provides <0.2˚C
temperature stability for the payload in an environment with
large temperature variations. Recent terrestrial test-setups
even achieve <0.001˚C temperature stability with changing
heat loads. 2Φ-MPL can be used to transport small (10 W) to
very large (MW) heat loads. In view of the pump electronics
mass 2Φ-MPL’s are most suitable for navy and land-based
applications requiring accurate temperature control (e.g.
active antennas). When smaller pumps with more compact electronics-cooling.com
electronics are developed 2Φ-MPL’s will also become attrac-
tive for air-based and satellite platforms.

6 Electronics COOLING 31
 NLR-TP-2013-314

Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHP)

OSCILLATING HEAT PIPES (OHP)
A specialAdvantages
two-phase system is the
and Drawbacks of Two-Phase Heat Transport Systems
Oscillating Heat Pipe (OHP) [7-11].
Despite its name the OHP-principle
is completely different from a heat pipe.
An Oscillating Heat Pipe is a meander-
ing tube with a diameter between 0.25
and 2 mm. As a result of capillary forces,
the tube is filled with liquid and vapor
plugs of a working fluid (see Figure 5). FIGURE 3: LHP [3] (left) and CPL (right) principle (Courtesy: Swales).
Heat is transported in the OHP by the
oscillation of the plugs in the OHP.
This oscillatory motion is driven by the
generation and the expansion of vapor
bubbles and the inertia of the plugs. Heat
is transported from the hot to the cold
side mainly by the sensible heat of the
liquid, and the temperature drop along
an OHP is approximately 10-15°C. This
is a much larger temperature drop than
for a classical heat pipe. An interesting
feature of the OHP is that it can operate
under high g-loads [10]. The NLR devel-
oped Flat Swinging Heat Pipe (FSHP) has
been tested upto 8.4g without decrease
in performance. Until now OHP’s are
only implemented on a small scale e.g. FIGURE 4: Schematic drawing of a 2Φ-MPL with parallel evaporators and condensers.
for CPU cooling [12]. (Parallel evaporators can cause flow instabilities with large difference in heat loads.
In the TTCS system the heat loads were similar).
ADVANTAGES AND DRAWBACKS OF TWO-
PHASE HEAT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS The gravity dependence makes the use of general heat
To elucidate where the above listed two-phase systems pipes and thermosyphons only possible in gravity assisted
are best suited, first the disadvantages are discussed. Main and zero-gravity environments and therefore unsuitable
general disadvantages of two-phase systems for use in military for air-based platforms. Some special heat pipe designs are
platforms are: available but the transport length is limited or in case of
t Gravity dependence OHP’s the performance is much lower. LHP’s and CPL’s can
t Inflexibility of the interface to the payload (evaporator) withstand high-g forces and are therefore also suitable for
aircraft applications. The inflexibility of payload interface
is the second general drawback of two-phase heat transport
systems. Evaporation sections of heat pipes themselves are
flexible enough and are therefore implemented in an extensive
amount of satellite, marine and ground-based designs. The
concentrated LHP and CPL evaporator sections are however
bulky and limited in length. Therefore sensors or other pay-
loads with distributed elements are not easy to cover by one
or two LHP evaporators. In satellite applications combined
HP-LHP networks are successfully used to cope with this
problem at the cost of extensive test campaigns. In aircraft
design heat pipe networks are not feasible in view of the gravity
problems, therefore only single LHP evaporators are used for
concentrated payload sensors. For payload sensors with more
distributed electronics the 2Φ-MPL’s are a feasible option as
the evaporator can facilitate multiple widespread sensors with
only small diameter (1-8 mm) tubing. The 2Φ-MPL’s bulky
FIGURE 5: Schematic drawing of an OHP. accumulator and pump section can be located far away from

32 Electronics COOLING | March 2013

7
 NLR-TP-2013-314
Rough Two-Phase Design Guideline
Conclusions
References
the payload. Th is makes 2Φ-MPL specifically suitable for
implementation in existing payloads for platform upgrades.
Two-phase systems would not be so popular if there were
no clear benefits. The most well-known advantage is the mass
effectiveness. As the latent heat of most fluids is at least one
or two orders larger than the sensible heat, a two-phase heat
transport system can transport considerably more heat per
fluid mass resulting in a lower system mass and smaller
cooling tubes. Th is led to the extensive application of heat
pipes and loop heat pipes in spacecraft and aircraft design
as in these platforms mass is a driving requirement.
The second clear but less well-known advantage is the
high temperature stability of two-phase heat transport
systems. As two-phase systems make use of evaporation
(boiling) of a liquid and boiling always happens at one tem-
perature, two-phase systems can perfectly control delicate
payloads on a stable temperature (e.g. active antennas and
radar applications).
ROUGH TWO-PHASE DESIGN GUIDELINE
In the two tables above, rough guidelines for system en-
gineers are given to identify which type of two-phase heat
transport system would fit best for their type of platform
and payload. In the tables above, the applicability of the
types of two-phase systems for the different platforms is
summarized. The main selection driver in the first table is
the gravity dependence.
In the second table a rough division in payloads is made
based on their lay-out of heat sources. A centralised pay-
load is a payload with a concentrated heat source like a
linear motor. A distributed payload has a large number of
widespread heat sources like active antennas or SAR radar
applications. Finally a third type of payload is defined with
confined access.
electronics-cooling.com | March 2013
CONCLUSIONS
An overview is given of two-phase
heat transport systems with benefits
and drawbacks of the systems. Rough
design guidelines are given for the ap-
plicability of the several systems for
airborne, land-based and navy plat-
forms. By checking the application in
the two tables a system engineer can
judge whether a two-phase system is
available and he can already make a
pre-selection.
Although two-phase systems are al-
ready used in many military platforms,
there are still improvements needed
to increase the application range. To
advance the introduction of 2Φ-MPL’s
in platforms and platform upgrades, it is
needed to reduce the pump (electronics)
mass and increase the pump reliability.
REFERENCES
[1] http://www.simonindustries.com/wedgelock.php
[2] G. P. Peterson, An introduction to heat pipes; modeling, testing, and
applications, (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1994).
[3] Image taken from http://www.lab-hp.kiev.ua
[4] Jenteng Ku, Laura Ottenstein, Dan Butler, Hosei Nagano, Thermal
Performance of a miniature loop heat pipe with multiple evaporators and
multiple condensers, 14th Int. Heat Pipe Conference, Florianopolis, Brazil,
22-27 April 2007
[5] http://www.ams02.org/
[6] J. van Es, A. Pauw, G. van Donk, E. Laudi, C.Gargiulo, Z.He, B. Verlaat,
U. Ragnit, P. van Leeuwen, AMS02 Tracker Thermal Control Cooling System
Test Results of the AMS02 Thermal Vacuum Test in the LSS at ESA ESTEC,
AIAA 2012-3577 (2012)
[7] H. Akachi, F. Polasek, Pulsating heat pipes for space and avionic ap-
plications, CPL '96 Int. Workshop (ESA/ESTEC), The Netherlands (1996)
[8] S. Khandekar, M. Groll et al., Closed and Open Loop Pulsating Heat
Pipes, 13th International Heat Pipe Conference (13th IHPC), Shanghai,
China, Sept. 21-25, 2004
[9] V. Luckchoura, M. Groll, and S. Khandekar, An Introduction to Pulsating
Heat Pipes, Electronics Cooling, May 2003
[10] J. van Es, A.A. Woering, High-acceleration performance of the Flat
Swinging Heat Pipe, 30th Int. Conf. on Environmental Systems, Toulouse,
France, 2000
[11] M. Bsibsi, G. van Donk, A. Pauw, J. van Es, J.A. Romera Pérez, The
Variable Effective Surface Radiator, Novel Heat Switch Technology based
on the Oscillating Heat Pipe principle, 36th Int. Conf. on Environmental
Systems, Norfolk, VA, USA (2006)
[12] G. Xu, M. Vogel, Low Profile Heat Sink Cooling Technologies for Next
Generation CPU Thermal Designs, Electronics Cooling, Feb. 2005
8 Electronics COOLING 33